


5 Days

by sonnet009



Category: Free!
Genre: 30 Day OTP Challenge, Cuddling & Snuggling, First Dates, First Kiss, Holding Hands, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-15
Updated: 2014-06-19
Packaged: 2018-02-04 19:40:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1790848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonnet009/pseuds/sonnet009
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first five days in the relationship between Rei and Nagisa.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day 1 — Holding Hands

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the 30 Day OTP Challenge.

Heart pattering, palms moist, pulse jumping wildly in his throat, Rei sat ramrod straight and still, looking ahead with great determination. Every part of him was hyper aware of the boy sat beside him, whom he assumed looked no more natural or at ease than himself.

Moments crawled by with agonizing languor. The train was due in six minutes, but two minutes had already passed, feeling like two lifetimes. He was never going to make it. A heart attack would get him first.

"Rei-chan."

Rei jumped. That is to say, his back further straightened to inhuman rigidity; his skin came alive as every single hair stood on end.

"Y-yes!" he answered as if it were roll call.

"We don’t have to. I mean, if you regret saying yes."

His head snapped around. For the first time, he saw — really saw — how nervous Nagisa looked. No — past nervous now. A little deflated.

"Maybe it was a bad idea. I guess I kinda ambushed you after practice," Nagisa said, keeping his own eyes averted.

Shocked, Rei’s mouth worked over words that wouldn’t come.

"I’m sorry, Rei-chan. I got carried away again, huh?"

"Nagisa-kun!" Rei finally managed, far too loudly.

The sound rang out in the silent air. Thankfully, there were no other people on the platform to take notice.

Nagisa stopped talking, his mouth clamping shut as if he’d been admonished.

A hundred possible responses ran through Rei’s mind — the  _of course I don’t regret it_ s and the  _just because I wasn’t brave enough to confess doesn’t mean I’m not happy that you were_ s and the  _please don’t make that sad face_ s circling and circling until Rei was choked with them and couldn’t say anything at all.

Instead, he wiped a sweaty hand on his slacks, then laid it palm-open in the gap between them. Nagisa looked down at it, then up at Rei, then down again.

And then, he beamed.

Nagisa’s smaller hand slipped into Rei’s so quickly, as if he didn’t want to give him any time to change his mind. Rei closed his fingers in a tight squeeze, then kept them firm, making it clear that a change of mind simply wasn’t going to happen.

When Nagisa squeezed back, electricity skittered all the way up Rei’s arm.

The train arrived five minutes later, and their hands parted. Nagisa sent a little secret smile Rei’s way before stepping on board. If Rei’s return smile seemed a little stiff, it was only because, in his mind, he was already calculating how many hours it would be until they could do that again.


	2. Day 2 — Cuddling

The first time, Nagisa could write it off as a misunderstanding. The second time, it could’ve been nerves. The third time didn’t necessarily mean anything either.

But by the fourth time that Nagisa had tried to sidle up to Rei on the bed and put an arm around him, only to be rebuffed as Rei slid very quickly in the opposite direction, well, it started to feel a little undeniably like rejection.

Rei’s face was an implacable mask. He hadn’t seemed so uptight when he first came into Nagisa’s bedroom, but as soon as they were sitting side by side on the bed, the emotional shutters had slammed down. 

Lifting an experimental hand into the air, pointed vaguely in Rei’s direction, Nagisa didn’t miss his, frankly, over-the-top flinch. This was bad. This was really, really bad. The niggling little doubt buzzing in Nagisa’s head evolved into full blown, screaming dread.

_He’s changed his mind._

This was it. One last all-or-nothing attempt.

After a moment to gather his courage, Nagisa launched himself at Rei, tackling him flat on the bed before he had any chance to defend himself. Clamped around him like a limpet, Nagisa held on, hoping against hope that could somehow— what? Snuggle Rei into submission? The plan was a little fuzzy.

Rei wriggled and wriggled and protested, “Nagisa-kun—!”

"I’ve got you now, Rei-chan!" Nagisa sing-songed, holding tight. "There’s no escape~"

But Rei didn’t show any sign of calming at all and, after a good minute of trying to struggle his way out of the embrace, he finally kicked out.

"Stop!" he shouted.

Nagisa stopped.

Suddenly they were sitting on opposite ends of the bed again. Nagisa was breathing heavily, blushing bright red, and trying hard not to embarrass himself any further by crying because  _he’d just wrecked everything Rei was never going to talk to him again he’d really messed up he was the worst everything was over now totally over_

"Nagisa-kun, I’m sorry."

That stopped Nagisa’s crazy inner monologue in its tracks.

"N-no." He couldn’t even  _look_  at Rei. “It was my fault. I didn’t mean to—. I made you uncomfortable. I’m sorry.”

Rei sighed, hunched over and staring at his knees. “I knew this would happen.”

The words hit Nagisa square in the chest.

"It’s okay, Rei-chan." He sounded calm and composed, right? He hoped he did. "Thank you for trying."

He couldn’t say he was honestly surprised. He hadn’t expected Rei to accept his confession to begin with. And even after Rei had agreed to give dating a try, Nagisa had felt it was all too good to be true. He truly wasn’t surprised. But, wow, it really,  _really_  hurt…

"I’m sorry," Rei said again.

Nagisa clenched his fists in the bed covers. “No, it’s fine.”

"I don’t mean it as an insult—"

"Of course not."

"It’s just that—"

"I understand, Rei-chan."

"—I’m just not ready to have sexual intercourse."

Nagisa sucked in a breath. “…Wh-what?”

Finally looking over at him, Nagisa could see just how hard Rei was blushing, how he looked sad and twisted up in knots just like Nagisa did.

"I’ve behaved reprehensibly. I knew what you meant when you invited me to your room and I knew I wasn’t ready but I accepted anyway—"

"Uh, Rei-chan—"

"But I wasn’t trying to deceive you or anything — I just didn’t know how to say it without sounding like a prude or—."

"Rei-chan—."

"And I’m not saying  _never_  — just not  _now_. I-I have to do some research first. And I’m sure there are some supplies to buy.”

"Rei-chan…" Nagisa was starting to feel a little light-headed.

"Besides!" Rei was starting to get more and more fired up. "What’s the big rush? We’ve only been dating for two days! I don’t think it’s so old fashioned to want to wait for—"

"Rei-chan!" Nagisa surged across the space between them and grabbed Rei’s wrists, pulling him so they were face to face, finally prompting an end to the tirade.

"Rei-chan," he said again, softer, "I didn’t invite you to my room to have sex."

"You— you didn’t?" Rei blinked.

Nagisa shook his head. Rei looked terribly confused.

"But—. I thought—. Then what— what was with all the— the  _touching_?”

A laugh started bubbling its way up out of Nagisa’s mouth, but he clamped down on it before any more damage could be done. Smiling warmly, he pulled Rei gently by the wrists until his arms were dangling loosely around Nagisa’s neck.

"What are—?" Rei stiffened, but didn’t pull away.

Pressing his head into the crook between Rei’s neck and shoulder, Nagisa came to rest there. “I just wanted to cuddle.”

"You— you wanted to…" Rei trailed off, and Nagisa could practically  _feel_  the heat coming off of his face.

Brighter red than he’d ever been, Rei slowly — ever so slowly — began to relax against Nagisa, bringing his arms to rest more naturally around his small body.

"I’m sorry," he said quietly.

"Shh, Rei-chan," Nagisa whispered into his neck. "If you feel bad, just let me stay here for a while."

He felt the bob of Rei’s adam’s apple as he swallowed.

"Of course." Rei sounded hoarse, but warm. "For as long as you want."

 _That was the wrong thing to say_ , Nagisa thought, but didn’t share.  _Now you’ll never get rid of me._


	3. Day 3 — Watching a Movie

“ _Biohazard… 9_?”

"Mm hm!" Nagisa held up the DVD triumphantly. "Don’t you think it’s perfect?"

Rei looked down at the DVD in his own hands. “I think something like this might be more appropriate.”

“ _My December Love_?” Nagisa grinned. “Waaah, Rei-chan! That’s so romantic!”

"W-well." Rei nudged his glasses up. "It seemed fitting. More fitting than— than _that_.”

Nagisa winked. “Aha! But horror is the genre of choice for lovers.”

"Wha—? How is  _that_  the case?”

"Think about it, Rei-chan!" Nagisa had that happy, glassy look in his eyes, like he was far away now, where no logic could reach him. "A dark room, the tension is high, holding onto each other for comfort… It’s classic!"

"Classic, huh?" Rei looked over Nagisa’s DVD cover with new eyes and, ignoring every screaming instinct inside him, said, "Okay, let’s rent this one."

"Yay!" Nagisa cried, joyfully.

 _Yay_ , Rei thought, sarcastically.

 

One hour later…

 

"Rei-chan? Are you gonna be coming out anytime soon?"

Nagisa’s voice was muffled on the other side of the bathroom door. Rei rinsed his mouth one more time, trying to rid it of any trace of vomit, before shakily reaching out a hand and pulling the door handle.

"Oh no! You look  _awful_!” Nagisa immediately set to fussing.

"My apologies," Rei managed, voice not as strong as he’d like. "Those zombies just looked so real."

"They… really didn’t." Nagisa grimaced awkwardly. "Rei-chan, why didn’t you just say that you’re no good with horror?"

Rei didn’t answer. He wished the ground would eat him.

"Oh well, I guess it wouldn’t have stopped me anyway," Nagisa smiled a little guiltily.

Rei snorted. Well,  _that_  was true.

"But you were going to sit through that whole movie just for me." Nagisa’s eyelids dropped a fraction, and suddenly the temperature of the whole room went up. "That’s pretty cool."

Fumbling with his glasses again, Rei managed to stammer out, “N-n-not r-really!”

"It is, it is!" Nagisa grabbed onto his arms. "Rei-chan, you can be really cool sometimes."

"I— I—."

Rei’s felt like he was on fire.. Nagisa’s face was suddenly so very close, and growing closer. Finally snapping back to reality — a reality in which his mouth still vaguely tasted like the second coming of his lunch — Rei jerked back.

"No!" he exclaimed.

"No?" Nagisa stopped, wide-eyed.

"Not like this!" Rei hurried to explain before yet another misunderstanding could take root. "That sort of thing—. Our first—. We can’t do it now. It has to be perfect! Or at least… better. Than this. Because this is…"

"…Kind of awful," Nagisa finished with a little smile.

"Exactly." Rei smiled back, relieved.

"Fine," Nagisa conceded, backing off. "But you better prepare yourself, Rei-chan."

The look Nagisa sent his way was pure electricity. Rei’s heart thumped.

“ _Ngh_ ,” he replied.


	4. Day 4 — First Date

"Rei-chan! Sorry I’m late. Were you waiting long?"

Rei’s glasses glinted as he pushed them up the bridge of his nose. “Not at all. I arrived mere minutes ago.”

Nagisa couldn’t help but laugh a little into his palm. Rei narrowed his eyes. Nagisa shook his hands, smiling.

"It’s nothing. I just thought that you’ve somehow become rather smooth," he said, thinking fondly on their prior conversations about date etiquette.

"Yes, well," Rei stuck his chin out awkwardly. "Let’s get going, shall we? Our schedule is very full."

"You made a schedule?" Nagisa asked.

"Of course! And if we don’t hurry, we’re going to be late for our first appointment."

"…Appointment?"

The first “appointment” was nothing more than a spot of shopping, but it seemed important to Rei that they walked through the door of the first department store by no later than 11AM, so Nagisa did his best to keep up with Rei’s big, purposeful strides.

They browsed the jammers in the sportswear section for a while, until Nagisa sensed that Rei was starting to tire of being constantly wheedled to try on the skimpiest swimsuits on offer.

After that, Nagisa naturally gravitated towards the gadget and toy floor, where he pointed out everything that caught his eye. Rei seemed enthused by some — such as the microscope and fifty sample slides set — and nonplussed by others — like the talking money boxes or the USB stomach crunching dogs or the anime character cosplay items.

After that store, they meandered through the smaller shops in town, buying nothing, but enjoying the excuse to walk slowly side by side. Though, as fun as it was, Nagisa couldn’t help but notice how often Rei’s eyes would fall on him, only to whip away as soon as they noticed Nagisa returning the attention.

At 12:30PM exactly, the alarm on Rei’s watch started to beep. He switched it off and started looking around intently.

"Rei-chan, what—?"

"Over there!" Rei pointed at a little cafe on the corner of the street. "That looks like a nice place for lunch."

"Sure," Nagisa agreed breezily.

It was a pretty girly thing to do, to spend their date in a cafe like this, but that sort of thing never bothered Nagisa. Getting into the spirit of it, he ordered the strawberry shortcake and munched away happily as Rei continued his stare — look away — stare cycle.

After lunch, they naturally came to a stop outside the movie theater. Nagisa got distracted by the poster for  _Biohazard 10_ , but rethought the whole thing when he caught a glimpse of the nausea already playing on Rei’s face.

Instead, they kept walking until they reached a small park. Sitting together on a bench, Nagisa suddenly became aware of the fact that there was no one else in sight. Feeling a little naughty, he turned to Rei—

—only to have Rei’s lips land directly on his nose.

They both leapt back to opposite ends of the bench.

"E-e-excuse me!" Rei said, louder than he probably intended.

"N-no, it’s fine," Nagisa replied, kind of embarrassed but mostly confused. "Rei-chan, did you just try to kiss—"

"No!" Rei yelped. "Don’t talk about it! Let’s never talk about it!"

They sat in silence, long enough for the heat in Nagisa’s face to fade, though not quite so for Rei.

"Hey…"

Nagisa started to slide close again, thinking maybe it was time for a retry, when Rei’s watch alarm started the bleep once more.

"Agh," Rei groaned. "That’s it. That’s the end of the date."

Nagisa blinked. “That’s… it? Why?”

"I have to be home by four o’clock," Rei explained, a little sheepishly. "It’s inconvenient, but I promised my mother that I’d help her with something."

"Oh." Nagisa tried not to sound too disappointed. "Okay, Rei-chan. Let’s spend the whole day together next time."

"Of course!" With a hand on his glasses once more, Rei was back on form. "And next time, we’ll—"

Nagisa tried not to giggle as he watched Rei physically lose his arrogance.

"We’ll, uh—. I mean, we—. We can—. We’ll do the, uh, thing," he began to babble.

As entertaining as it was to see the lengths Rei would go to to avoid saying the word “kiss”, Nagisa finally took pity on his stammering boyfriend and reached out to squeeze his hand.

"Thank you, Rei-chan."

That stopped him. “…For what?”

"For a lovely first date," Nagisa beamed.

"I—. We—. You—." Rei started blushing all over again. "You’re welcome."

"I’ll be looking forward to next time." Nagisa’s voice dropped a little, as his eyes fell subconsciously to Rei’s lips.

Pink tongue coming out to lick them, Rei replied, “…Me too.”


	5. Day 5 — First Kiss

"Okay, then." Rei let out a sigh before bowing his head. "Please lend me your guidance."

He knew he must make quite the sight — knelt on the floor, bent forward like this. But he was a smart boy, and smart enough to know when he was out of his depth. And, once again, he found himself in the embarrassing position of asking Nagisa to take responsibility.

"Ummm," Nagisa hedged, standing awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry, Rei-chan. I guess I don’t quite understand."

Rei bit back on a surge of irritation.  _Take responsibility_  — that was if Nagisa would ever stop putting on his clueless act that was  _clearly_  designed to drive Rei mad.

"You’re really going to make me say it, aren’t you." Rei’s hands curled more tightly to fist around the fabric of his pants.

"Say what?"

Nagisa was mocking him. He had to be mocking him. No one looked that blank —  _Nagisa_  never looked that blank — unless he was trying to push Rei’s buttons.

Taking a deep breath, Rei lowered his head once again. Fine. If Nagisa wanted him at his mercy, that was just  _fine_.

"You’re going to have to kiss me," he said.

After a few moments too long of silence, Rei couldn’t stop himself looking up. Nagisa’s face was still infuriatingly vacant.

"Uh," Nagisa said. "Okay?"

With that, he dropped to his knees directly opposite. Pursing his lips in concentration, he stared until Rei started to wriggle under the scrutiny.

Clearing his throat, Rei prompted, “Go ahead.”

Inch by inch, Nagisa’s face moved closer. Suddenly remembering how these things were supposed to go, Rei pressed his eyes tightly closed.

Sight gone, it was as if his skin came alive. Suddenly, he could feel every soft puff of Nagisa’s breath against his lips. His ears were now attuned enough to pick up on the sound of Nagisa’s tongue slipping out to wet his mouth. And then…

…Nothing.

Opening his eyes, ready to complain, Rei was rendered quiet at the bizarre sight before him. Nagisa had his own eyes closed, his lips were puckered, and his angle was off by at least 30%. He wouldn’t even  _find_  Rei’s lips at this rate. More than that, he looked to be wound even tighter than Rei, body tense and face pink.

"…Nagisa-kun," Rei said, flatly.

Nagisa’s head swung to follow Rei’s voice, but his ridiculous expression remained.

"Rei-chan," he garbled through still-puckered lips. "Where are you?"

"More importantly," Rei ground out through clenched teeth, "What on earth are you doing?"

Nagisa’s eyes opened; his mouth relaxed.

"Kissing you?" he said, uncertain.

"Your form is terrible." Rei felt his patience snap. "Are you sure you’ve done this before?"

"Well… no."

"…What?"

"I haven’t done this before," Nagisa said, face only getting pinker.

"Wha—? But—! But you said—."

Rei stopped. Nagisa  _had_  said that he’d kissed before. He must’ve! Or maybe… Oh.

Hanging his head, Rei said, “I’m sorry, Nagisa-kun. It seems I’ve made some incorrect assumptions.”

"Did you think I was some kind of player or something?" Nagisa laughed.

 _Good_ , Rei thought with relief.  _He isn’t offended_.

"You always seem very… confident," Rei said carefully.

"Really?" Nagisa looked genuinely surprised. "But my heart always beats so fast when I’m with you, Rei-chan."

"No way!" Rei exclaimed, even as Nagisa took his hand and pressed it against his chest.

Hyper aware of how fast his own heart was beating, Rei tried to focus. Finally, he felt it — that soft, quick patter beneath his palm. Looking into Nagisa’s eyes, downcast slightly in embarrassment, it suddenly hit Rei like a thunder bolt.

Nagisa had never—. They were going to be each other’s—.

He was going to be Nagisa’s first.

Rei hadn’t even realized he was moving, but now his lips were pressed tight to Nagisa’s, so there was no point in dwelling on it. Nagisa let out a little squeak, but quickly adjusted, his mouth softening under Rei’s until it opened the slightest bit — enough to let Rei in to deepen the kiss.

The barest hint of tongue — just a soft, slow slide that latest only a moment — and Rei was pulling back. He opened his eyes in time to see Nagisa doing the same.

They stared at each other for a long time, breathing heavily, and so close that they must’ve been sharing each breath.

"Rei-chan," Nagisa said, nearly disbelieving.

"Can we try that again?" Rei cut him off. "I mean— I think I can do better."

Nagisa laughed, already moving back towards him. “Practice, practice, practice, huh, Rei-chan?”

Rei’s reply never made it past his lips, occupied as they were by more pleasant things.


End file.
